MOSCOW, May 16 (RAPSI) – The Federation Council of Russia, the parliament’s upper house, has proposed to make doping a crime with regard to couches, doctors in sports medicine, and sellers of prohibited substances, punishable by imprisonment for up to five years or fines amounting to up to 500 thousand rubles ($7,500), RIA Novosti news agency reports on Monday.

As Senator Vadim Tyulpanov has told journalists, he prepared draft amendments to the Russia’s Criminal Code criminalizing the use or compulsion to use prohibited pharmaceuticals in the sphere of sports for coaches and other specialists in the area of physical culture and sports responsible for preparing athletes for sporting contests.

According to the bill, violation of rules governing the dispensing, sales, or shipping of pharmaceuticals in the composition of which are substances prohibited for use in sports on the part of persons vested with observance of the said rules should be punishable by imprisonment for up to one year or a fine amounting to up to 200 thousand rubles ($3,000). Other measures, such as various fines, deprivation of the right to hold specific posts and carry out specific activities for up to three years, or correctional works for up to one year may be also taken with regard to offenders.

Compulsion of sportspersons to use prohibited substances should be punished by imprisonment for up to five years and deprivation of the right to hold specific posts and carry out specific activities for up to three years, or fines amounting from 200 thousand rubles to 500 thousand rubles ($3,000 to $7,500).

The list of pharmaceuticals in the composition of which are substances prohibited for use in sports should be approved by a federal executive authority in the sphere of physical culture and sports.

According to the Senator, at present such actions are also punishable, but only as administrative offences, what is not enough, since the respective penalty amounts only to disqualification for one to three years. At the same time, Tyulpanov noted that in some cases doctors, coaches, and other persons interested in outcomes of tournaments prescribe prohibited substances without the knowledge or consent of sportspersons, who therefore become victims of doping and should not be responsible for this offence. 

The draft amendments should be soon submitted to the Russia’s government and the Supreme Court for official examination, the Senator has said.